It Cuts Like A Knife
by WriteYouSoon
Summary: Eli made a bad decision when he went against Clares trust and went to fight Fitz. Eli is determined to get Clare back, and Clare wants Eli back. One factor stands in the way, Jake Martin.
1. Out of the Dark

Eli's POV

I was just about ready to go to school until my phone rang, this was Adam's ringtone. So I dug in my bag until I found my phone, I flipped it open before I missed the call.

"Hi umm, Eli can you give me a ride to school, I just can't ride the bus today" Adam says sounding scared

"Sure, why can't you ride the bus?" I asked confused

"I'll tell you when you pick me up, thanks bye!" Adam says joyful and I flip my phone shut and toss it back into my bag

I get my keys out of my front pocket, and walk upstairs I hear snoring I follow the sound, and it leads me to the couch. I see my dad passed out with bottles laid out all around him I let out a scoff and walk out the door. I walk over to Morty and get in; I stick the key in the ignition and turn on the radio. I start in the direction of Adams' house. 'Why doesn't he want to ride the bus?' I ask myself 'maybe he missed it' as I near Adams' house I see him sitting outside, I turn up the radio and he looks up, he smiles and walks over to Morty and gets in the passenger side.

"Hey, thanks for picking me up" he says

"Anytime, because the bus is _super_ scary" I say with a smirk

"Well, today it was" he mumbled not realizing my sarcasm

I glance in his direction and his eyes are filled with fear. Were near the school and I'm about to park in my usual parking spot.

"Eli! Umm can you not park there…" Adam says with a worried tone

"Why not I always park here, what's wrong?" I asked confused

I follow Adams gaze, I see a tall boy with dirty blonde hair laughing with Bianca De Sousa and Owen. I look back and Adam and who looked like he was about to throw up.

"Adam what's going on?" I say with concern

"Fitz has been giving me a _hard time_ is all..." he says hesitating

I turn around and park four spots from my usual spot take the keys out and get out, Adam swiftly follows.

"Hey! Princess, why wont you come and play with us" Fitz yells while the rest of the bust out laughing

"Eli we should walk faster" Adam says and walks ahead of me and goes to Clare I follow

"Hi Adam" she says with a smile "Hi Eli" she says not meeting my gaze

"Good Morning!" Adam says with a smile

Clare was wearing a blue buttoned down shirt with a vest and a skirt and she had her hair in the usual curls. Her eyes were her best accessory; they were like deep pools of blue that I would swim in all day, _**'No! Eli get a hold of yourself, she's just your English partner!' **_Adam clears his throat and I snap back to reality, I notice I've been staring at her for the past thirty seconds. Clare blushes and giggles and goes off to talk with Alli.

"Well someone has a crush" Adam says with his 'I-know-and-you-cant-hide-it' look

"Tell her and I feed you to Fitz" I say with a smirk

"Umm… Eli" Adam's voice cracks, "Do you want me to feed you to Fitz, I bet he would love to have _you _for dinner" I say with my hands over my heart and a dreamy expression.

"What did you say Dr. Doom!" Fitz says with an aggravated tone from behind me

I turn, and there he is arms crossed across his chest and a look that could kill. He reeks of vodka. I screw up my face, to indicate that he stinks.

"Got somethin' to say you freak!" Fitz yells. I've never liked bullies never will, with all the experience I've had with them, I've grown to hate them. A crowd starts to gather and I can see Clare with a worried expression. I get in Fitz's face.

"Well for one you smell like vodka, but I bet you've heard that one before" I say as I look him dead in the eyes.

"You don't know who you're messing with!" he yells and pushes Adam down, that's it, I've had it. He wasn't even fighting with Adam, and Adam is so innocent and wouldn't hurt anyone. I punch Fitz square in the face he falls back and swings his head around. He gets up and runs right up to me furious.


	2. Into the Light

In no time I was on the ground, Fitz landed four punches. I got up punched him in the nose, and while he fell back I jumped on him landing five punches in a row, I'm sure I broke his nose. I felt hands on my arms.

"Eli get off him!" Clare yelled

"Dude enough!" Adam yelled

An officer dragged Fitz away, and Principle Simpson dragged me away.

"Everyone back to class, before I give you all detention!" Principle Simpson yelled. The crowd quickly disappeared, except for Adam, Clare and a few of Fitz's friends. Clare was crying, and Adam looked worried.

"This isn't over!" Fitz yelled as he was pulled into the office

"Clare, Adam I need you to come with me to the office to tell me how this all started" Principle Simpson said, they both nod. I feel Clare staring at me, I meet her gaze and she quickly looks away. Principle Simpson walks into his office to talk to Fitz.

"Dude, thanks for sticking up for me" Adam says and smiles as we do our signature arm bump

"Anytime. Clare…" I say with a sigh. She doesn't even move an inch and continues to stare in the opposite direction. I get up and walk over to her, "Clare I'm fine, see." I say as I use my hands to motion to the parts of my body that weren't covered in blood or scarred.

"Well I'm sorry if I don't enjoy watching you get beat on, what if you got seriously hurt!" she says as the tears she'd been holding in came out.

"Why do _you_ care so much anyway?" Adam asked from behind us with a sneaky tone. I turned and gave him the 'don't mess this up for me' look. Clare turned and said. "What do you mean, why do I care so much?"

"If _Eli_ did get hurt, it would have nothing to do with _you, _unless you have feel-" Adam was cut off when Principle Simpson came out of his office and said "Mr. Goldsworthy" and he motioned for me to come into the office. Fitz bumped me on the way in and I smirked. The phone rang and Principle Simpson put up a finger telling me to wait. I could hear Fitz outside talking.

"Hey, your Clare right?" Fitz said in an interested tone

"Umm… yeah" Clare said in an annoyed tone

"So what are _you_ doing here, being a bad girl?" Fitz said

"I'm here because _you_ decided to start a fight with my English partner" Clare said in an annoyed tone

"Dr. Doom is your English partner, huh? So how about you and me go to The Dot after this" Fitz says

"Oh! Come here let me give you my number so I can call you when I get there" Clare says in an interested tone

I can't believe she would be interested in a guy like Fitz, Fitz of all people! This thought made me angry. Suddenly there's a crunching sound and Fitz hits the floor. I can't help but grin.

"Mr. Goldsworthy, your suspended for the rest of the week and have detention all next week" Principle Simpson says in a stern tone

I nod and walk out of his office; I see Adam holding Clare, and Clare crying and Fitz smiling from ear to ear. I give him a look that could kill. Fitz disappears down the hall, "Adam, what happened." I say making sure to not let the anger show.

"Clare kicked him straight in the woods, and he slapped her across the face." Adam says noticing my anger

"Clare, are you going to be okay?" I say as sincere as possible. She looks up and nods then jumps into my arms. It all took me by surprise, I looked at her and she had stopped crying. She didn't have scratch on her, not even a bruise. I lean in to check if she might have one on the side of her face, but then ended up swimming in the pools of blue, that are her eyes. I didn't notice what we were doing until Adam cleared his throat, I snapped back to reality and took her hand and got up, she was blushing furiously. The bell rung and she let go of my hand she got her bad turn towards me and giggled the disappeared down the hall.

"Score!" Adam says while putting his hand up for a high five.

"Dude 'score' really" I say with a smirk on my face

"Well I got to go, to class later" Adam says as he gets up and walks away.

I grab his arm. "Not just yet, were not giving up so easily, its time for revenge." I said with a smile.


	3. Black Light

"Okay, what's the plan?" Adam asks nervously

"_We _spread the word that Fitz is a loose cannon and will hit a girl, after we do that we get Bianca to tell us some things about Fitz. After tha-" I say before being cut off by Adam.

"Let me get this straight, somehow _you and me_ are going to get information out of freaking Bianca De Sousa!" He says while giving me the 'are-you-crazy' look.

"Adam, my friend there's nothing to be afraid of." I say with the 'I-know-what-I'm-doing' look, and he nods. "So after we get Bianca to talk, we use what we found out to blackmail Fitz. The rest we'll make up as we go." I say with a smirk, Adam's mouth is wide open and he's looking at me like I've lost my mind.

"Whatever you say Don Eli." He says while laughing

I laugh to "well I got to go, do you want me to pick you up so we can work on the plan?" I say not aware that Principle Simpson is snapping his fingers, and signaling for me to leave campus. Adam nods and we do our arm bump, I walk out the doors and walk out to the student parking lot, I get into Morty and drive to The Dot, I rather not go home while my dads there. I walk into the dot and see that Clare's friend Spinner is working today.

"Hey, aren't you Clare's new boy?" Spinner asks from the other side of the counter.

I make a confused face and sit down on the other side of the counter. "What makes you say that?" I asked with a confused expression.

"Well since _I am _manger of this place, I hear _everything _and people tell me stuff." He said with a sneaky smile.

"So what exactly did you hear about me?" I asked

"Well one day when Clare came here with her friend Alli, almost all they did was talk about you, Clare thinks your funny and cute, but she doesn't know if you like her. Her friend wants her to make the first move but of course, she's to shy. Spinner said while pushing the buttons on the coffee machine.

"Really? She didn't seem shy when she attacked my face this morning in the hallway" I say while raising my eye brows.

"No way, you and Baby Edwards!" Spinner says amazed.

"For how long?" Asks spinner with an interested look on his face.

"I don't know, like three maybe two." I say while looking down at the floor.

"Seconds, minutes?" Spinner asks with an anxious expression

"I don't know, I got lost in her eyes. I didn't notice it even happened until I leaned away." I saw while looking out the window.

"You have to talk too her she's probably so happy." Spinner says while turning on the toaster.

"I don't think she likes me, were completely different." I say

"You know what they say opposites attract." He says while taking a customers order. "Why aren't you in school anyway?" He asks with a confused look.

"I got suspended for fighting" I say while looking at the patterns on the counter

"That sucks; I remember when I was your age, and all the mistakes I made." He says while looking deep in thought. "So may I take your order?" He says while smiling.

"A coffee, black." I say and he nods. I drink my coffee and leave a twenty on the counter walk out to Morty and get in, I go buy everything we'll need for the plan. Duck tape check, zip tie check, flashlights check, and matches check. By the time I had everything school was out. I drove up to the school and saw Adam and Clare walking out. 'I hope Adam didn't tell Clare about the plan' I think to myself. Adam and Clare walk over to Morty and Clare gives me the 'I-know-what-your-doing-look'. I turn to Adam who quickly looks away.

"Hey can we go discuss it over at Clare's?" Adam asks while smiling.

"You told her! Adam how could you after all we've been through" I say pretending to sniffle.

"She practically knew you were going to take revenge, she forced it out of me!" He says with an innocent look.

"_You_ should be the bigger man and let it go" Clare says while looking at Adam

"Okay, okay I'll invite Fitz over and we can all have tea." I say with my words dripping with sarcasm. "Clare do you want a ride too?" I ask while looking into her eyes.

"Sure, thanks." She says while blushing.

"I don't think there's room, you'll have too sit in my lap." I say in a suggestive tone, with a smirk. I shoot Adam the 'climb in the back look' and he makes his way to the back. Clare gets in the passengers side and steps on something, she looks down, 'I forgot to put away the stuff! There's no way she'll let me carry out this plan' I think to myself.

"Eli, what is all _of this_?" She says in a worried tone.

"Toys from when I was a baby." I say with a smirk.

"I'm serious, what exactly are you going to do during this _plan_?" She says in a serious tone.

"You'll find out when we get to your house." I say as I turn on the radio and start driving. I feel Clare's eyes on me.

"You know, it's impolite to stare" I say while grinning.

"_Your_ one to talk." She says with slight sarcasm.

"I can't help it your just so-" I say before being cut off by the sound of yelling coming from Clare's house. She gives me the 'I'm sorry' look.

"Umm… Clare what's going on?" Adam asks with a confused look.

"My parents, they've been fighting." She says with a sad look.

I cut the engine and get out, I walk over to the passengers' side to open the door for Clare, and she gets out.

"_Such_ a gentlemen." She says and gives me a wink as she walks past me to open the door to her house. We walk into her house and Clare shuts the door, she signals us to be quiet and follow her.

"Clare!" A brown haired man yells while throwing a bottle at the ground and breaking it.

Clare turns.

"Yes dad?" She says with a scared expression. Her father looks at Clare, then me, then Adam.

"Nothing." He says while starring daggers at Clare.

We all rush upstairs to Clare's room, I explain the plan and we all know what to do.

*Ping*

Clare walks over to her laptop.

"Oh no, Fitz just sent me an IM" She says with a disgusted tone. Me and Adam walked to Clare's laptop.

_**Fitz_49: **_So have you decided to go out with me or will I have to remind you what I can, and will do if you say no, and I do know where you live.

_**Fitz_49 is Offline**_


	4. Blackout

Clare turned to me looking scared out of her mind, and then she begins to cry.

"What am I supposed to do?" She says in-between sobs.

I can't stand seeing Clare like this, especially on behalf of Fitz. Adam is waiting for me to do something, but _I don't know_ what to do.

"Do we call the cops? He is threatening her safety." Adam says in a curious tone.

"No! Were going to deal with this on our own" I say in a serious tone.

Clare glances at me with a worried look, then gets up and walks over to her window.

"Clare…" I breath

She let out a sniffle.

"Clare, it's going to be fine, I won't let anyone or anything hurt you." I say while walking over to her and taking her hand. She turns toward me and smiles.

"Thank you Eli" She says

"Umm… Are you two like a unit now?" Adam says from behind us.

Clare looked at me with a curious expression.

"Well are we?" She says while blushing.

"Clare, where's your bathroom?" Adam asks while giving me the 'I'll-let-you-guys-talk.' Look.

"Down the hall then take a right, it's the last room." She says.

Adam walks toward the door and gives me a thumbs up as he leaves. I turn toward Clare and raise my eye brows.

"Well are we?" She says as she takes a step closer.

"Do you want to be?" I say as I take a step closer. Were so close are breath is mixing.

"I don't know?" She says as she grabs my collar with both hands.

I lean in and she's leaning in to, then every doubt in my mind was washed away as I felt her lips on mine. Adam cleared his throat and I pulled away, Clare let out a giggle as she blushed.

"So I'm guessing the answers a yes." Adam says while raising one eye brow.

"Yes." Clare says as she bites her lip.

*Ping*

I rush over to Clare's laptop.

_**Fitz_49: **_Decide by 11 tonight or I'm going to have to pay you a visit.

I took Clare's hand, and looked at the time on her alarm clock **8:45pm **she has three hours left. Adam and Clare look at me with determination in their eyes. My master plan is going to have to start earlier that I expected.

"Clare, when your parents think you're asleep, and their asleep call me, and I'll come through the window, I'm going to have to sleep here so lay out some newspaper." I say with my last few words dripping with sarcasm.

"Okay, but what are you going to do in the morning I have to go to school, and my mom comes to wake me up." She says

"I'll drop you off, wait until your mom leaves for work then I'll come." I say with the 'I'll keep you safe' look. "Adam when we get to the school, I'll need you to walk Clare to and from all her classes, do you think you can get your brother to walk with you? Incase Fitz shows up and things get physical." I say as I give him the 'I'm trusting you' look.

"Yeah, I can get him to walk with me." Adam says as he looks around Clare's room.

"It's getting late, you guys should go." Clare says with a concerned tone

I and Adam walk towards the door. "Clare, please call me once you're all set, okay." I say as I feel a worried expression threaten to take place of my cool expression, I let it pass. Clare nods, and runs up and gives me a tight hug; she walks me and Adam to the door.

"Bye Clare!" Adam says with a smile

"Bye Adam" She says with a smile

I look into her eyes and she takes my hand.

"It's all going to be okay, there's nothing to worry about" I say while touching her face with my free hand. She nods, let's go of my hand, and then closes the door.

Adam and I get into Morty. I drive Adam home he gets out, then waves goodbye.

"This is going to be a long night" I think to myself.


	5. Take Me Away

Clare's POV

I walked into the kitchen to get a snack before Eli's plan goes into play. I can't help but worry about Eli. The look he had in his eyes when he was beating on Fitz it was like he was a _whole _different person. I've heard rumors about Eli's reputation, but I would never think they were true.

"Clare, are you okay?" My mom says from behind me.

"Yes." I say, noticing I've been staring into space for the past five minuets. Just tired is all; I'm going to bed, goodnight." I say as I start for the stairs.

"Wait, who were those two boys that came here today?" She says with a stern tone.

"Adam and Eli, Eli's my English partner and my… Adams' my friend." I say while staring at the floor.

"Okay, what else is Eli to you?" She says while raising an eye brow.

"He's my friend too." I say while looking into his eyes.

"Are you sure he's nothing else? Because I just happened to walk past your room, when you two were…" She trailed off.

"Oh we might be, I don't know." I say blushing. Then I hear a crash, 'oh no! What time is it, is Fitz here already' I think to myself. I stand there frozen with fear. My mom runs over to the back door, I follow slowly behind. All the glass in the back door was cracked; I see my dad _laying_ there _smiling_, with a hundred dollar bill in his hand.

"What's going on, what happened to the door?" I say confused. He gets up and walks past my mother, and stops at me.

"He paid me, since you've ruined my marriage. I decided to become partners with someone who shares my interest, you know Fitz right?" He says while whispering into my ear, and grinning.

I stand there frozen.

"Clare, come help me sweep the glass up." My mom says from outside.

"Coming." I say, I feel tears forming. 'He was supposed to be my dad not my enemy.' I thought to myself. At that moment, all the sadness I felt turned into hate, I've never really hated anyone or anything. Just knowing that my own dad will try to hurt me made me angry.

"Clare, we have to clean it up now before it gets dark." My mom says while sweeping.

"Okay." I say with an aggravated tone while walking past my father purposely bumping him.

My mother and I swept up all the glass, and I sprinted up the stairs. I paced from my window to my door over ten times. I walked into the hallway and all the lights were off, I walked back into my room and changed into my pajamas. I picked up my phone and called Eli.

"Clare are you ready?" He asked.

"Yeah, Eli my dads in on it too now, Fitz paid him to be on his side." I say as I begin to sob.

*Tap*

I walked over to my window and opened it, and went to sit on my bed. Eli came in and closed the window, then sat down beside me.

"Clare." He says while pulling me into an embrace.

I cried for a few minuets while Eli comforted me. It was then, I realized that I more than just liked Eli, but how would I tell him, 'what if he doesn't respond the same way?' I asked myself. My phone rang, and Eli let go of me. I looked over at my phone, it was Alli. I flipped the phone open.

"Hello." I say

"Hey, Clare, why didn't you tell me about you and Eli!" She squeals.

"How did you know?" I ask while blushing and turning away from Eli.

"So it's true! Spill now." She says in an excited tone.

I looked over at Eli who had his headphones on and his eyes closed, not even aware that I was on the phone.

"Well I think I lo-" I say before being cut off by Alli.

"I knew you were in love with him!" She squeals.

"I just now, figured it out, I have to go" I say while blushing.

"Bye." Alli says.

I flip my phone shut, and find Eli sitting starring at me.

"So you love me, huh?" Eli says while looking me in the eyes.

"It's not polite to listen in on peoples _private _conversations." I say while blushing and looking away.

"Nothing to be embarrassed about Clare-Bear." He says in a childish tone while taking my hand.

"Because… I feel the same way." He says while looking into my eyes.

I let out a sigh and lay down, and patted the spot beside me and closed me eyes. I could feel him come lay beside me.

"My uncle talked to Principle Simpson, they got into this argument and Simpson agreed to let me come back to school." He says while tucking a strand of my hair behind me ear.

"That's good now you can protect me from _Fitz_, but you can't protect me from my dad." I say.

"I will do _my best _to protect you. Even if I lose myself in the process." He mumbled the last few words.

What did he mean by 'lose himself?' Its one of those things that will keep you up all night, but you don't really want to know the answer because your afraid of what it will be.


	6. Tumbleweed

*Beep*

My eyes snap open at the sound of my alarm clock. I reach over and hit the off button. I sit up, and remember what all happened last night. I look over and Eli's gone. 'I guess he went to go shower and get ready for school' I think to myself. I jump out of bed "the faster you move, the less you'll be away from him" I tell myself walking over to my closet. I pick out a golden button down shirt, with a vest and light wash skinny jeans. I shower, get dressed, put on my make up, and my golden flats.

"Clare, do you need a ride to school I have about 30 minuets before I have to go to work." My mom says from downstairs.

"No, Eli's going to drive me today." I say while smiling.

"Okay, have a good day at school." My mom says as she walks out the door.

I walk downstairs and head to the kitchen to get a bottle of water; I wasn't having that much of and appetite today. As I opened the fridge I felt a hand brush my hair out, from behind.

"Look at you little Mrs. Innocent, even though you've ruined a marriage." My father says while grabbing my arm with extreme force.

"Ow!" I yell as I tried to pull away. He spun me around, and let go of my arm, then gripped my wrist and held it up in front of my face.

"You're not innocent! See that pretty little _purity _ring you wear around, by the time Fitz and I are done with you. You'll be wishing that was the only thing that we took away from you." He yells as he shook my wrist.

I felt a faint vibration in my bag; I hoped it was Eli calling to tell me that he was across the street. I looked my father dead in the eyes, with anger and hate. I spit in his face and he fell back, and let go of my wrist. I knew this would buy me a few seconds. I ran upstairs threw every piece of clothing I touched into a bag.

"You little swine, you're just like your mother!" He yells while running up the stairs.

I ran out of my bathroom and locked my door. He aggressively jiggled the door knob. I ran over to the window and opened it; I zipped up the bag and dropped it.

"Your going to end up just like you sister!" He yells from the other side of the door.

_Nobody _compares me to Darcy, not that I think that she's a bad person, It's just that I'm _Clare _and she's _Darcy_. This makes me so angry that I want to just open the door and kick him in the _nards. _I walk over to the door.

"I hope you enjoy being lonely, all you'll have is the girls you pay at night, and your liquor. Moms not going to stick around, who would want to live with a _disgusting _nasty _old _man!" I yell from the other side of the door. I hear a grunt and I run over to the window, I put on foot on the tree beside my window, and look back. He busted down the door, he's so drunk he doesn't even see me. I climb down the tree, grab the bag, and run to Eli across the street.

"Clare! Get back here!" My father yells from the stairs.

I notice I had left the door open.

"Eli! Start Morty up hurry!" I yell while running to the passengers' side. I open the passengers' door and get it. My father is so close to Morty it looks like he can just break the door down and get me. Eli's window is slightly open.

"This isn't over Goldsworthy." My father says with an evil smirk.

Eli steps on the gas and we sped down the street.

"Do you want to explain what all that was all about?" Eli says while grinning.

"He told me part of his and Fitz's plan, and he tried to intimidate me." I say while looking out the window.

"Oh really? What was the part of the plan he tried to threaten you with?" Eli says in an interested tone.

I don't know how to tell him, it will make things awkward. I open my mouth to say something but no words come out, I snap my mouth shut and look down at my purity ring. Eli glances at me; I twist the ring around on my finger. Eli looks at me with a confused look, I meet his gaze and take off the ring and exhale. He catches on immediately and he grips the steering wheel.

"Clare, he said he was going to…" He trailed off.

"He didn't say those exact words but I know what he meant he said he _and_ Fitz were going to." I say while looking at the floor, were near the school now and Eli's parking. He rips the key out of the ignition and mumbles something that sounded like "sorry Morty". He walks past the car, and head in the direction of the school, I get out and follow closely behind. I see Adam look in the direction of me and Eli, Eli meets his gaze and nods, Adam nods also and hurry's to Eli's side. The homeroom bell rings and Eli and Adam begin to depart.

"Stop. Aren't you guys supposed to get information out of Bianca De Sousa?" I ask with an interested tone.

"Yeah, actually that's what we were going to do now." Adam says.

"Can I, join?" I ask looking at the ground.

"Okay, but we have to hurry." Eli says.

Then I saw her, Bianca De Sousa. She was tall but not too tall, she was pretty, and most of all _dangerous_. I watched as Eli and Adam stood by an open janitor's closet. I moved closer to Adam.

"Move it Dr. Doom." Bianca says in an annoyed tone.

Adam leaves my side and walks behind Bianca, pretending he doesn't have anything to do with this. Adam takes a zip tie from his back pocket and ties Bianca's legs together, and then her arms, while Eli puts duck tape over her mouth. They guide her into the janitor's closet, and sit her down on a mop bucket that was turned upside down. Eli closes the door.

"Were here to ask you some questions, think of me as the 'Bad Cop', and think as Adam as the 'Good Cop'.

Adam looks at me with a worried expression; I walk over to his side and pat his shoulder. The I realize that Adam is wearing many layers of clothes; I don't let Adam realize my discovery. I take my hand off his shoulder and walk over to Eli.

"Eli, how are you supposed to get her to talk if you duck taped her mouth?" I asked while smiling.

"By the way she talks about people I'd think she had a second mouth." Eli says while smirking.

"Well, there's only one way to do it." Adam says

"Someone has to rip it off." I say, while looking at Bianca, who's eyes were filled with anger.

"That would hurt, I don't hurt women, no matter how annoying." Eli says in a serious tone.

"Well I'm not going to do it!" Adam says while holding his hands up, out in front of him.

"Fine." I say as I slowly take the duck tape off of Bianca's mouth. I feel a pain shoot through the right side of my hand.

"She bit me!" I say as I rub my hand.

"What do you want; it isn't my fault it happened to her. I can only imagine how bad it would be to be forced against your will, I tried to tell him not to, but that won't stop him! He's going to _kill_ in five days, so get ready because it's going to be a _blood_ _bath_. If I were you I would just give the red head up." Bianca's words rushed out, she smiled at her last few sentences, and then turned to me.

"*pop* *pop* *pop*" She made a gun with her thumb and her index, and middle finger.

I looked at Eli, he looked at Adam, and Adam looked at me, shock was written all over all of our faces.


	7. Withdraw

Adams' POV

I didn't know whether to go comfort Clare or to give her some space to take in what she just heard. I looked at Eli, he had his fist clenched and he looked like he was about to explode. Eli ran out of the closet.

"Dude!" I called out after him.

Clare and I ran after him, he was fast.

"Hey! Don't leave me in here!" I hear Bianca yell from inside of the closet.

I stop running and look at Clare. I give her the 'I- think-we-should-let-her-out' look, she nods.

"I'll call you when I find Eli" She says as she starts to run the opposite direction.

I run back to the closet and I see Bianca has tried to set herself free, because she has toppled over onto her side. I bend down to help her stand up.

"Once I'm free, all of you are _dead_!" She says as she hops up and regains her balance.

"If Fitz doesn't kill us first" I mumble, while untying the zip tie around her wrists. She looks at me and smiles.

"Aren't you in one of my classes." She says while rubbing her wrists.

"Yeah, love to talk but I have to go stop my friend from going to Juvie." I say as I turn to walk out of the closet.

"…Be safe." She says with a concerned tone.

"Thanks I guess." I say with a smile.

"Don't look at me with those eyes." She says while playfully shoving me.

She had touched right above of the wrap on my chest, I took a step back.

"I-I have to go" I stuttered then turned and ran out of the closet. 'Adam! You were so close to someone finding out about you' I thought to myself. I felt my pone buzz in my front pocket.

"Clare did you find him?" I ask in a worried tone.

"No, but I think we should wait by Morty, he's bound to come back to his car." She says in a serious tone.

"Okay." I say, as I flip my phone shut, and exit the school. I spot Morty as soon as I exit; it's pretty hard to miss. I see Clare pacing in front of Morty, I run over to her.

"Where do you think he might be?" I ask, as she spins around to face me.

"I don't have the slightest idea." She says, as she runs a hand through her auburn hair.

I scan the parking lot for any sign of Eli, or anything that says that he was recently here.

I hear a song off in the distance it sounds like Eli's ringtone.

"_I see your pattern and I can match it, just trace the lines of your paisley jacket"_

"Clare, did you just call Eli?" I ask with a confused look.

"Yeah, why?" She says while raising one eye brow.

"Because I hear his phone ringing, that means he's somewhere around here, but he's hiding! Call it him again so I can follow the sound" I say as I look around the student parking lot.

"Okay." She says as she holds down the number two on her dial pad.

"Speed dial?" I ask while laughing, and she blushes.

"_I see your pattern and I can match it, just trace the lines of your paisley jacket"_

I followed the sound. It leads me to Fitz's car. "I don't get it?" I thought out loud.

"Clare call again." I say from across the lot.

"Okay, have you come close to tracing the sound?" She asks while holding down the number two, again.

"_I see your pattern and I can match it, just trace the lines of your paisley jacket"_

Clare runs over to me, and we kneel down so that we can see the under of Fitz's car. Eli was laying face up under Fit's car, with a wrench in hand taking apart the underside of Fit's car. He kept disassembling

"Eli!" Clare gasped.

Eli slowly turns his head so he could look at Clare, more like glare.

"Dude what are you doing?" I ask, while starring at the wrench in his hand.

Eli turned to glare at me too, a glare that could burn straight through you. Eli shuffled out of under Fitz's car. He stood up and put the wrench in his back pocket. Clare and I stood up, and starred at each other. We didn't know whether to talk to him or leave him alone. I gave her the 'lets-go-to-class-and-leave-without-a-word' look, she nodded. She looked worried and nervous about what we were about to do, leave Eli alone to carry out his plan on his own, and just shut him out. I looked at her, and held my hand out, she took it and we began to walk towards the school. We walked right past Eli and didn't look back. I saw a tear drop from Clare's eye.

"It's for the best, he's too far in." I say while walking ahead of her.

"So that's it! You guys are just going to leave me to carry on by myself!" Eli yells from behind us.

I slowly turned around. I noticed tears threaten to drop from Eli's eyes; he quickly turned away and whipped his eyes. It was then that I realized that Eli was _scared_. I let go of Clare's hand, and walked up to Eli.

"Eli… It's okay to be scared." I say, as I walk up too Eli.

"No, it's not!" He yells, while turning to face me, and letting the tears fall.

"Yes it is! Who is telling you this?" I yell.

"Everyone, since the age of five." He says, while sweeping his bangs over his eyes.

"Like, your parents?" I ask. He nods, now I understand why this is so important to him. I remember when Eli told me something's about his parents. He said that they expect too much out of him.

"Tell me something Eli, which one of your parents have told you that?" I ask.

"Well, they've never really said it straight out but, I know what they mean even though they don't say it." He says while looking at the ground.

"Maybe you should tell them this, Eli it's not normal to not be scared." I say with a concerned tone.

"Okay." He says while opening his phone.

"Clare, so you really do care." He says while smiling.

"Of course, I do you are my friend." She says, and then runs into the school.

"_Friend?_" Eli says, as he stands frozen.

"Dude, I thought you guys were-" I say, before being cut by the sound of Clare screaming.

"Stop! No! Please, I'll do whatever you want but that! Clare screams, from inside of the school.

Eli takes off toward the school, I follow closely behind. We get into the school right as the bell rings, 'great now everyone's going to be in the hallways how are we supposed to find her now!' I think to myself.

We run to Clare's locker and find a note.

_**Listen closely Dr. Doom; if you want your precious English Partner back, you'll lay off, and realize that she's mine not yours. So stay away emo freak!**_

_**-KC**_

Great now we have two problems.


	8. Darling Nikki

Clare's POV

Before I knew it KC, and a couple of his friends were carrying me to the boiler room. One guy, I think his name is Owen, put tape over my mouth. We arrived at the boiler room, and KC closed the door.

"Mmmmmm!" I shouted, while wiggling around.

"Take the tape off, and put her down in the chair." KC orders, in an urgent tone.

Owen and the other boy, I did not know, slowly took off the tape, and then sat me down in a chair.

"Clare darling, nice weather were having isn't it?" KC says in a joyful tone, while smiling, and fiddling with his fingers.

"KC, what do you want." I say in, a pleading tone.

"How are you KC? Fine Clare thanks for asking." He says in a sarcastic tone.

"Just tell me what you… Haven't I heard the before, from Eli?" I say in a questioning tone, while raising my eyebrows.

"N-No w-why would you think that?" He says with his voice shaking, in a nervous tone.

"KC… How do you know what Eli said to me, and why are you saying it." I say with a frustrated look.

"You want the truth." He says, while taking a step closer to the chair.

I quickly get up from the chair, and take two steps back.

"Yes, the truth." I say in a stern tone.

"I've been watching you and, _Eli_." He says Eli's name with such disgust.

"W-What! Why?" I choke out. KC's face turns red with anger and he begins to walk towards me.

"Because, _we_ are suppose to be together, no you and _him_! He says, and stops moving toward me.

"You had your chance, you blew it. You left me for the school _mattress_; we could have been good, as easy as breathing. You just couldn't wait, could you KC! Well I'm over you, its time for you to get over me. Go follow _Jenna_ around like the shameless puppy dog that you are. You know KC we could've been friends again, and if you would've respected my morals, we could have been great. Since you want someone _quick, fast, and easy_! Now you have what you want, and I've heard you have a new _tiny cheater_ to add to your little family. I'm with Eli now, why cant you get that." I shout, while running to the door, tears streaming down my face.

"You're _sick_!" I shout, while running out the door. I don't see anyone in the hallway. I decide to just go to class and txt Eli and Adam so they'll know I'm alright. I walk into my next class, and take my ball next to Alli. I wait until Mrs. Oh's back is turned, and then I pull out my phone.

"Mrs. Edward I'm glad you decided to join us, what's your excuse for being twenty minuets late?" Asks Mrs. Oh.

"Umm… I had an eye appointment; I missed most of my classes today, because I was there." I say, while opening the Txt Message application on my phone, without looking.

"Okay Mrs. Edwards, I'll take your word for it. We've started a project on, famous male American pop musicians; you have two choices for which you want to do your project on. Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, also known as the Gloved One. Or Prince, The Purple One, also know as His Purple Badness. You have to make a website on one or the other, or you can do both.

"I'll just do both." I say.

"Okay, you may listen to their music, and find pictures to post up on your website." She says, while walking back to her desk.

I took my ball next to Alli and pulled out my phone.

**I'm fine, KC took me 2 the boiler room, but I escaped in 1 piece, I have some info, KC has been following me around, 4 idk how long. I'm in Mrs. Oh's class meet me at my locker after.**

**-Clare**

"KC drama, again!" Asks Alli.

"You know it's very impolite to look over someone's shoulder and read their txt messages." I say, as I shake my head in mock disappointment.

"Don't try to change the subject, details now!" Alli squeals, with clapping her hands.

"Mrs. Bhandari, anything you want to share with the class?" Mrs. Oh says, as she looks up from computer.

"No sorry." She says as she looks down at her keyboard.

"You have some explaining to do Clare Bear, call me after school!" She whispers, with her 'I'm-all-ears-and-ready-for-gossip' smile.

"Okay, I'll call you _after school_." I say, while smiling.

"So… Eye appointment or _Eli appointment_?" She says, in a suspicious tone, while raising one of her eye brows.

I blush and begin to look up Prince.

"I knew it! So what happened was it planned, where'd you two go?" Alli squealed.

"None of your business Alli." I say with a smile, as I take out Eli's headphones, and put them on. I could faintly hear Alli whispering something about Eli, his hearse, and my purity ring. I clicked a song named Darling Nikki. I listened to the song until it was over. I pulled off the headphones, and took out my paper and wrote.

**Not pure.**

**Writes about his experiences.**

_**Funky.**_

"Writing about Eli I see." Alli whispered.

I laughed, and then Alli and I overheard some of our classmates talking.

"Did you hear what's gonna' go down at the ravine today?" A boy with red hair asks.

"Yeah man, I heard Fitz is gonna' put Dr. Doom _in _a hearse." A girl with black hair says.

"I'm so pumped to see this fight; we have like two more minuets in this class, than after this-." The red headed boy says, before being cut off.

"Are you ready to rumble!" Dave yelled as he made a circle with his hands and put it by his mouth, to project the sound of this voice. Then the bell rung and it seemed like everyone in the school ran out as fast as they could out of the school.

"Clare, you didn't tell me Eli was going to fight Fitz, again!" Alli says, while jumping to her feet.

"It's because, I never knew!" I say, also jumping to my feet.

"We have to go now, and try to stop him." I say while running to the school doors.

"Okay let's go!" Alli says from behind me.

Alli and I ran as fast as we could, we stopped when we spotted Fitz, at Gun's' N More, purchasing a gun.

"Clare, look." Alli says, while pointing across the street, to the Gun shop.

I looked across the street, and froze.

"What do you think he's going to do with it?" Alli asks, while starring at Fitz through the store windows.

"W-Well I-if he's buying a gun right before a fight, he's probably planning to use it." I say, with a terrified expression.

"Wait! Look KC's in there too, and Fitz just handed him the gun." Alli says, in a surprised tone.

"We have to get a closer look, come on we'll stay in the ally by the store and look through the glass." She says, while walking across the street. I follow closely behind; we get to the ally near the store.

"What do you think KC will do with it?" I whisper, while peering into the store.

"OUCH!" Alli shouts from behind a trash bin. KC and Fitz quickly turn in our direction, and see us through the glass, they run out of the store, and run towards Alli and I.

"Come on Alli, we have to go now!" I yell, while attempting to pull Alli up.

"I can't; my foot's stuck in something!" Alli yells, while grabbing my hand. I get down on my knees and rummage through the trash that's all over the ally floor, too see what Alli's foot is stuck in. Two shadows appear above us.

"We'll you've finally come to your senses, and you brought a friend, ready to have some _fun_?" Fitz says as he steps into the ally and picks me up and pins me to the wall. I look over at Alli, who was now standing.

"I'm ready for fun, close your eyes." I say as I run my hand through Fitz's disgusting hair.

"Now you're speakin' my language." Fitz says, as he closes his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I don't speak _Neanderthal_." I whisper in his ear, as I knee him in the _nards_. Fitz slid to the ground, and Alli and I make a run for it, that's when I saw the oh so familiar hearse.


	9. In The Back

Eli's POV

I was on my way to the ravine to fight Fitz, of course Fitz probably thinks that he would win since he has the strength of a gorilla, but what he doesn't know was that I have Bullfrog's pistol in the back of my hearse. My plan is to shoot at him, but miss just to scare him, and to let him know that I mean business.

"That Neanderthal-." I say to myself, but then sneeze once I say the word "Neanderthal". I shake it off, because I don't believe in the whole 'if-you-sneeze-that-means-something-is-about-to-happen' thing, I turn up the radio and sit at the red light.

"Eli, Eli, Eli!" I hear from the passenger's side window, I look over and see Clare. I quickly unlock the door. I hear my trunk door close, I snap my head back, and see Ali entering. I give Clare a confused look.

"It's Fitz. Ali and I followed him, and we hid in an alley, and we saw him and KC buying a gun! Then he found us, but we escaped. Eli I know about the fight, please don't go you'll be killed!" Clare, says as tears run down her cheeks.

I stare blankly at her for a moment, and then I realized the light has turned green, so I slam my foot on the gas and speed down the street.

"Clare, I'm going to drop you and Ali off at your place, okay? I want you to do exactly as I say; don't answer the door for anyone only if it's me or Adam. Don't answer any unknown numbers; lock all the doors and windows." I say, as I stop at Clare's house.

"Eli, what are you going to do? Eli!" She shouted as more tears fell from her eyes.

"I'm going to make peace with him, this is getting to serious." I lie, as I look her straight in her eyes.

"Oh thank you Eli." She says, as she leans over to me and gives me a peak on the lips.

I take her by the chin and deepen this kiss, and then I lean away. I watch her as she gets out of the car, and wait for the sound of the trunk closing. I speed off to the ravine, as I reach back and pull the blanket off of the gun.

The drive to the ravine seemed to take ages. I got out of Morty and go directly to the trunk, take the pistol and, load it with bullets, then put it in my boot. I scan the premises, and look for Fitz. It seems like the whole school was here, I located Fitz and walked up behind him.

"Ugh ugh goobah goobah, you should know what that means it's in your native tongue." I say as, while a crowd begins to form. Fitz turns around, towering over me, he snarls.

"I didn't know you were part dog?" I say as I look him dead in the eyes. He pushes me onto the ground, and I take the gun out of my boot and put it directly in-between his eyes. I look cross-eyed for a moment and realize that Fitz has also put a gun in-between my eyes. I hear the flashes of cameras in the background. I carefully stand up, while still pointing the gun at Fitz.

"Roof." I say as I narrow my eyes.

"You act like you actually have bullets in there." He says. I slowly aim at a spot right beside his ear, and shoot. Fitz falls to the ground in horror. I look around at the crowd and all of the expressions are the same, terrified. I bend down to where Fitz is and he crawls backwards.

"Listen, I would hate to hurt you- never mind I _wouldn't mind_ hurting you, but then Clare wouldn't be happy about that, would she?" I whisper into Fitz's ear. I stand up, and reload the gun.

"But guess what, she doesn't have to know!" I shout as I aim at Fitz's forehead again, spontaneously I shoot and I also fall to the ground, screams of terror, blood, and sirens; then everything goes black.

Clare's POV

"Ali, do you think Eli's okay?" I ask, as I tried calling his phone again, while walking around my room.

"Clare, he's fine. Now quit freaking out your making me nervous." Ali say, while sitting down in front on my laptop.

"What are you doing?" I asked her, with an exasperated tone.

"I'm checking the schools gossip site, duh." She says, while tying.

"Is this really the time to be checking gossip, Ali?" I say, as watch the screen from behind.

"Oh No…" Ali says, as she stares blankly at the computer screen.

"Ali? What? What's going on?" I ask, as I read the words on the screen. 'Deadly Fight' I reached over Ali, and clicked the words. Pictures of Eli and Fitz holding guns up to each other's heads, the next picture was of Eli whispering something into Fitz's ear. The last picture was of Eli lying motionless on the ground, and so was Fitz, in the background was a crowd scattering.

"Oh my god!" I screamed. Eli went to the ravine, he lied to my face, and now he's _dead? _

"We have to get over there now." Ali says, while grabbing me and pulling me down the stairs. We ran outside, and then my phone rang.

"Hello?" I say.

"Clare, I'm at the hospital with Eli come quickly!"

"Adam? Okay I'm on my way." I say, as I hang up the phone. A car pulls up in front of Ali and I, and Ali gets into the passenger's side. The driver winds the window down.

"Get in Clare, were going to the hospital." Sav says. I get into the car, and Sav, Ali and I drive to the hospital in silence, but I know everyone was asking themselves the same dreadful question. 'Is Eli dead?'

We arrived at the hospital, and asked for Eli's room. We ran up to Eli's room and spotted Adam.

"Adam, what happened?" I ask while looking at Eli's motionless body.

"I tackled Eli, just before he shot Fitz, and he hit his head, he'll wake up soon, he's just unconscious. " Adam says, nonchalantly.

"Is Fitz…? Dead?" I ask.

"I-I-I don't know…" Adam says, while looking down at his hands.

"Clare?" Eli mumbles, while turning his head to face me.

"Eli, oh thank God you're okay!" I say, while observing his head injury.

"I'm fine, I'm just happy I put that Neanderthal in a casket." Eli says while chuckling.

"You're sick, you lied to me, and then you shot and killed someone!" I shouted as I backed away from him.

"Umm, guys. Fitz isn't dead, Chantay just texted me, he's fine." Sav says.

"Where is he?" I ask, in a dead tone.

"Room 235, why?" Sav says.

"I'm going to go see him. Oh and Eli, don't wait up, because I'm _never_ coming back, don't call, text, email. I don't ever want to see you again." I say, while leaving the room.

"Clare, I did this for us! I did it for you!" Eli shouted from his hospital bed.

I closed the door, slid down on the ground, and started crying.


	10. Love Will Never Do Without You

"Clare Edwards?" An unfamiliar voice says from in front of me. I look up and wipe the tears from my eyes.

"Jake Martin?" I whisper, while squinting through the tears in my eyes.

Jake is the last person I would think I would see right now, or want to see. The last time I saw him he threw a dead frog at me, but that was years ago; things have changed. In fact he has _matured _very much. I noticed how tall he's gotten, and his cute boyish features, also his biceps. He has _really _changed.

"Do I pass inspection?" He says, with a confident smirk on his face. 'Nope he's certainly the same' I thought to myself.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, irritated.

"I moved here? Your mom didn't tell you?" He says raising an eyebrow.

"I guess not?" I say, standing to my feet. I try to compose myself as much as I can.

"Are you, okay?" He asks while raising one eyebrow.

"I'm fine, what are you doing here anyway?" I say, with a kind of annoyed tone.

"Me? Your mom has been looking for you everywhere, and one of your friends told her that you would be here. So since my dad and your mom are _friends_ he said that he would help her look, which means that I was forced to come." He says with a bored tone. He said the word 'friends' like it meant something more, I quickly put the thought out of my mind.

"Oh, okay. Well now that you've found me, let's leave." I say, while walking towards the exit. I spotted my mother laughing with Mr. Martin, then she looked at me and smiled.

"Are you okay honey? I heard what happened to Eli." She says, with an expression of concern.

"I'm fine. We broke up." I say as I look down at my shoes.

"Oh, I'm sorry, what happened?" She asks.

"I don't want to talk about it, can we just go home." I say, in a harsh tone. We walk out of the hospital, everyone seems to be in good spirits except for me and Jake, and he seems to not want to be here. We get to my house, and I get out of the car.

"So, I'll see you tonight?" My mom says to Mr. Martin.

"Tonight?" I choke. What is going on is my mom going out on a date with Mr. Martin, so soon.

"Yes Clare tonight, we're having dinner with the Martin's." She says matter of factly.

"Oh…" I say. I walk without a word into my house, and go straight to my room. I lay there face down in my bed crying. Then I hear the familiar sound of my cell phones' text message notification. I roll over, and reach into my jacket pocket and retrieve my cell phone; it's a text message from Ali.

_**Above The Dot 7  
to kick off spring break?  
if ur up for it?**_

I quickly responded with a simple "I'll be there." The last thing I wanted to do was spend my night at home, and watch my mom talk with her, as Jake put it _"friend" _all dinner. I fix my hair, redid my makeup and open my window. 'If I sneak out from the window, she won't no-' I thought, but then stop when I realize what I was thinking, this wasn't me. I close my window and sit down on my bed, as I try to remember how to breathe. 'Spring break, a new start' I think to myself. I get up, and walk down stairs.

"Mom, I'm going to Above the Dot with Ali and some friends tonight." I say, trying not to make eye contact.

"Clare, we have dinner with the Martin's today. I'm afraid you can't go." She says while putting on her earrings, and fixing her hair.

"Are you going somewhere?" I ask.

"No, why?" She says, her expression confused.

"Because you're dressed like you're going out. You're wearing makeup and fixing your hair, and you're glowing. Mom what's going on?" I say, concerned.

"Nothing Clare, breathe. I just want to look nice for dinner tonight is all?" She says smiling to herself. I looked at the clock, it's _**8:30**_ the _Martin's _should be here any minuet_, _I thought their name with disgust, just because they're the reason I can't go to Above the Dot with all my friends.

_***Ding Dong***_

"Ooo Clare, get the pie in the kitchen and put it on the table." My mother says, as she rushes to the door. I look at her with my eyebrows raised not understanding what was going on with her. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed the pie, and slowly walked over to the dining table and set it down.

"Glen, Jake come in." I hear my mom say from the other room. I take my seat at the table, and wait for everyone else to come take their seats my mom and Glen sat in front of each other, and Jake and I sat at the ends of the table. I'm not in the mood for the dinner table conversation going on around me, neither is Jake it seems. I decided to tune into what my mom was asking Jake.

"So how was your first day at Degrassi?" She asks.

"What?" I choke out. Is that even possible, to register into a school right before Spring Break?

"I'll get used to it, when school starts up again." Jake says, as he fiendishly scarfs down mouthfuls of chicken.

"This chicken's really good." He mumbles.

"Oh, do you want some more? Light or dark?" My mother says, as she beams so happy that he's enjoying her cooking. I slip my phone out from my pocket, under the table. I start to type a message to Ali.

_**Nvm, can't ma-**_

"Clare, no phones at the table." My mother says, with a stern look. I look up, and I notice that everyone was looking at me. I make eye contact with Jake, and he raises an eye brow and grins. I lock my phone and put it back in my pocket.

"Happy?" I ask sarcastically.

"Excuse Clare, she's going through a break up." My mother says, as she sweetly smiles to Glen.

"I'm fine; I don't appreciate you telling everyone my business mom." I say, as I hold my fork with extreme force, in effort to control my anger.

"Actually, I think I need some air… All my friends are at Above the Dot right now…" I say, hoping that my mother will notice the severe emotional distress I was enduring at the moment.

"Go on, we don't mind really." Glen says.

"Hmm… Jake would you like to go along with Clare?" My mother says, she seems to be a bit hopeful."

"Umm…" Jake says, as he looks at me to see if it bothered me if he tagged along. I slowly nodded my head, but not enough for anyone but him to notice.

"I'll go." Jake says.

"Great come one." I say, as I stand up and grab his hand. My intention is not to go to Above the Dot, I simply want to take a long walk to get my thoughts together, and everything changed in an instant all in one day. I pull Jake through the front door, and I start to run. I don't know where I'm running to, but I keep going.

"Clare, where are we going?" Jake says, I can tell he's smiling by the tone of his voice. I look around and notice that I've run all the way to The Dot. I let go of Jakes hand and stop running. I sit down on the curb and start to cry. I remember that I'm not alone and quickly wipe away the tears, but he already noticed.

"Come on, let's take a walk." He says, as he walks ahead of me.

"How come I can never find a good guy, every time it ends in either apologies or disasters? What's wrong wit-. " I rant, but the I'm cut off by Jake's lips on mine. I quickly back away.

"What are you doing?" I ask, but I secretly wanted to continue.

"Just shut up for a sec." He says, as he comes closer to me. We kiss again, and I feel sparks, like the sparks I felt when me and, what's his name again? We both stop to get some air.

"Closure is key." He whispers into my ear.

"So Above the Dot?" I ask.

"Let's do it." He says. I lead the way. Hopefully this will be a good new start for me.


	11. If It Is'nt Love

"So what actually happened between you and your _ex?_" Jake says. I quickly turn around and face him; I can feel him searching my face in the darkness.

"That's private." I say in a harsh tone.

"Oh sorry. I just thought after our _closure session_ that you would've forgotten about him." He says. I feel all the blood rush out of my head, and suddenly I'm lightheaded, and furious.

"No, that was a mistake- this is all a mistake! I still love Eli an-." I stammer, I cut off quickly as the words 'I still love Eli' register in my head.

"I still love Eli." I say aloud to myself. I begin to reminisce about the day that Eli and I skipped class, and he made me scream at the top of my lungs, I went completely out of my element, and it felt so_ good. _

"Earth to Clare?" Jake says, as he waves his hand in front of my face.

"Huh? Oh, okay Jake let's just cut this little da- whatever this is short." I try my hardest to sound apologetic, but all I really wanted to do was find a way to get back to the hospital.

"I understand. Let me drive you to the hospital." He says, with a genuine smile.

"How did you know I was going to the hospital?" I ask.

"I've been there done that, I know how you're feeling right now. We're going to have to be quite okay, I have the keys to the truck, we get in I start it up and we make a quick escape." He explains all of this as his eyes glow in excitement.

"Sounds like a plan… Thanks for dealing with me; I know I probably ruined your night." I say, as I look down at the ground.

"Clare I _didn't_ have a night until you proposed the idea to go to Above the Dot, of which we never even went to. I really wasn't looking forward to watching our parents flirting all night anyway." He says.

"What? Flirting?" I say in shock. What does he mean _flirting_, is there something going on between my mom and Glen, no way. That will never happen, right?

"Don't worry about that; let's get you to the hospital." He says, as he walks away. I follow closely behind, while we walk he tells me about his past, and I tell him about mine, which isn't much. We round the corner and I see the truck parked across the street, we walk across the street and I stand by the passenger's side of the truck.

"Why'd you say we had to be quite if the trucks all the way across the street?" I say, as I climb into the passenger's seat.

"Because, of _this_." He says, as he turns the key in the ignition, and the stereo blares Led Zeppelins 'Black Dog'.

"_**Hey hey mama said the way you move, gon' make you sweat. Gon' make you grove!"**_

My eyes automatically widen, and my hands fly over my ears. I turn my head quickly in the direction of my house and I see the curtains fly open, I see my mom and Glen starring out of the window.

"Drive!" I shout over the music, as Jake slams his foot on the gas.

"Think they saw us?" He says, with a sarcastic smile on his face.

"Nope, we were quit as mice." I say, with a chuckle. We speed down the freeway, Jake drives, faster than Eli so we are bound to get to the hospital soon.

"This may be a question that you don't want to answer but, why is Eli in the hospital?" Jake asks, as he puts in another CD, I can tell he's trying to avoid eye contact.

"He got in a fight, a serious one." I say, as I try to concentrate on anything but the awkward conversation we were having. The song on the player changes, and I try to concentrate on the next song so maybe then Jake won't ask any more questions.

"_**Load up your guns, and bring your friends. It's fun to lose and to pretend, she's over-bored and self-assured oh no I know a dirty word."**_

I begin to bob my head along to the beat, and hum the lyrics to myself. Hopefully this will indicate to him that I'm not really into the conversation.

"What's the address to the hospital again?" He asks, as we stop at a red light.

"791 Queen Street East." I say as I look out the window to observe my surroundings. I look to my left and I see the Eaton Center.

"Jake! You drove us downtown?" I say as I give him a confused look.

"I'm not use to this whole city thing remember?" He says, as he presses on the gas as the light turns green.

"Maybe I should drive?" I propose.

"You can't drive, can you? Because if you can you can totally take the wheel and get us out of this maze!" He says with a half hopeful expression.

"Yeah, Eli taught me. Just pull over so we can switch." I say. Jake eyes me suspiciously then he pulls over and stops the car.

"Are you sure? You can just keep directing me." He says, as he unfastens his seat belt.

"Because that was going _so well_, I'm sure." I say as I open my door and walk over to the driver's side; Jake gets out and walks to the passenger's side. I quickly fasten my seat belt and pull off; I try to maintain a calm face so Jake won't notice that I actually have that much driving experience.

"Umm, Clare are you okay?" He says, I can feel his eyes searching my face.

"Yeah, why?" I ask, as I attentively watch the road.

"Because, we're going like 10 miles per hour…" He says.

"Oh, sorry. I was just lost in thought." I lie as I accelerate to a safe 55mph. An uncomfortable silence devours the moment, so I turned the radio on hoping that a good song would be on that I could hum along to, to break the silence.

"Hey, no touching the music!" Jake says, as he switches it back to the CD.

"Ugh, fine. Let's keep listening to your grunge vomit music." I say, as I roll my eyes.

"It's not vomit! Don't be a neomaxizoomdwebbie." He says with a grin.

"Breakfast Club." I say, with a smile.

"Got that right cherry." He says. My face immediately becomes red from embarrassment.

"Are we seriously going to quote The Breakfast Club at a time like this?" I say, as I stop at the red light.

"Guess not. Are we almost at the hospital?" He asks, as he bobs his head to the music. He seems to be pretty into this song, I try to understand the lyrics.

"Darkness imprisoning me, all that I see absolute horror? What in the world does that mean?" I ask confused.

"You've never heard this song before? Anyway you didn't answer my question." He says.

"We're here." I say. I get out and run into the hospital, I spot the desk and walk towards it, but I'm quickly pulled aside by Jake. He walks me into a corner so we aren't at a good hearing distance from the counter.

"What Jake, let me go!" I whisper angrily.

"They're not going to let just waltz in. Act like you have an emergency, I didn't risk getting myself lost in the city for you just not to get in." he says, as he releases me. I look at him for a moment, then stare straight ahead. I slowly approach the counter.

"Excuse me, what room is Eli Goldsworthy in?" I say. I feel the tears start to pour from my eyes. I catch my breath quickly. The nurse's expression changes from bored to worried in an instant.

"Room 312, is there something wrong?" She asks with a worried tone.

"I-I-I just n-n-need to talk to him, I-I-I-I'm sorry I'm getting my tears all over your desk. _Who am I_ to come here and bother you, when you have valuable work to be doing, and I'm just _a waste of time_ for both Eli and you!" I say, as I aggressively wipe the tears off of her desk.

"No it's not at all a problem. Just go on up, room 312 okay?" She says, it looks like she was going to start crying also.

"Thank you." I say as I walk off, and get into the elevator. I slide down in the corner and rap my arms around myself and start sobbing. Everything that has happened with Eli and I came rushing back, and that '_closure session'_ Jake and I had made me feel _horrible_, like I had betrayed Eli even though we aren't even together technically. The elevator doors slide open, and I jump to my feet as I let my hair fall over my face, and wipe my eyes.

"Up or down, or is this your floor." I familiar voice says.

"Eli?" I say, as I look up.

"Clare?" He says, sounding just as surprised as I was.

"Look, can we talk?" I say, as I look him in the eyes. He hobbles over to the elevator buttons, and presses the stop button.


End file.
